Comments Off on Maryland, Virginia and D.C. Restaurants to Give Back to the Bay on National Oyster Day

Each oyster sold on Aug 5. will help plant 10 baby oysters

Participating restaurants throughout Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. will donate 10 cents from every oyster sold on National Oyster Day, Sunday, Aug. 5 to the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP), the leading nonprofit working to rebuild the Chesapeake Bay’s native oyster population. As part of Give Back to the Bay on National Oyster Day, each oyster sale will help plant 10 spat (baby oysters) onto local oyster reefs.

“The Chesapeake Bay has long been known to produce some of the world’s best oysters,” said ORP Executive Director Stephan Abel. “Give Back to the Bay on National Oyster Day celebrates this iconic seafood, and the local watermen, farmers and restaurants who help bring it to our table. We’re grateful to the community and the more than 100 restaurant participants for supporting a vibrant, sustainable oyster industry.”

The restaurants participating in Give Back to the Bay on National Oyster Day are also members of ORP’s Shell Recycling Alliance, which reclaims oyster shell so that it can be used as substrate for the oyster restoration process. Many of the oysters enjoyed today are produced through aquaculture practices and supply much of the shell used to rebuild oyster reefs in the Chesapeake.

“When we buy oysters from local farmers and recycle the shells back into the Chesapeake, we’re providing our guests an opportunity to give back to the waters we all love so much,” said Dylan Salmon, owner of Dylan’s Oyster Cellar. “ORP’s shell recycling program helps to ensure that future generations can enjoy a healthy Bay, and this delicious and amazing food.”

ORP works collaboratively with its partners to produce and deploy juvenile oysters onto strategically-selected sites in the Chesapeake Bay. These efforts aim to bolster oyster populations, support the wild fishery and recreate large, healthy reefs last seen 50 to 100 years ago.

Oysters are a critical species to the Bay’s long-term recovery because they filter excess nutrients and serve as habitat for a multitude of marine life. Over the past two decades, the Oyster Recovery Partnership has planted nearly 8 billion oysters on 2,460 underwater acres throughout Maryland.

For more information on Give Back to the Bay on National Oyster Day and to view a list of participating restaurants, visit nationaloysterday.org.